This blog has nothing to do with gorillas (though I love 'em)...fellow bloggers have inspired me to share vintage images of Disneyland from my personal collection. But don't be surprised if you see something from a World's Fair, Knott's Berry Farm, or someplace else that is cool!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

It seems like every boy was fascinated by the U.S. space program back in the 60's and into the 70's. Girls too, I'm sure, but I wouldn't fraternize with them because of their astro-cooties. I drew pictures of Saturn V rockets, wrote reports about moon launches, looked at Life magazines and National Geographics, and was generally enthralled by every aspect of the "space race".

Today's photo of the Freedom 7 spacecraft ("capsule"), from the Mercury program, evokes those feelings in me once more. The picture was taken inside the old Smithsonian museum, long before there was a separate Air and Space building. It dates from November 1962, about 18 months after it had carried Alan Shepard (atop a Mercury-Redstone rocket) to an altitude of approximately 116 miles (185 kilometers). The craft traveled in a ballistic arc, eventually splashing down in the Atlantic after only 15 minutes and 22 seconds.

Here's another similar photo taken about 2 years later.

According to Wikipedia, the Freedom 7 craft survived its mission so well that it could have been reused! It is now on display in the lobby of the Armei-Leftwich Visitor Center at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

8 comments:

Now when you say "space capsule" that's the kinda image the comes to mind. :) I can't imagine anything like that surviving re-entry in a reusable condition! Wonder if there's a part missing on top or if all those pipes etc exposed?

Chiana, the part missing on the top is the escape tower. It was released several seconds into the flight. The idea was that if something went terribly wrong in those first few seconds, rockets in the escape tower would fire and lift the capsule off of the main rocket to safety. Fortunately, it was never used!

Chiana - WRT reusing space capsules, they seem to be a bit more resilient than we tend to think.

I was surprised to learn that the Air Force refurbished the unmanned capsule used on the Jan 1965 Gemini 2 mission and re-launched it in Dec 1966 as the unmanned prototype of the Gemini B capsule intended for the Manned Orbital Laboratory program. Had the MOL program not been cancelled, I believe the AF's intent was to purchase a smaller number of capsules and refurbish them for future missions.

This concept isn't dead - the current Orion spacecraft designs being developed by NASA feature a reusable crew capsule that resembles a large Apollo command module.

This is very cool. I saw the new Air and Space museum in 1969, but the old exhibit is even cooler somehow.

The USS Hornet out here in Alameda also has a space capsule in their exhibit on the hangar deck. The Hornet was the recovery carrier for most if not all the manned flights at least through the manned landing.